CMS Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) Daily Nurse Staffing

How this source shows up on Fonteum.

Drives the brand-hub `/staffing` editorial surface. Per-facility daily-granularity nurse-staffing — the only CMS dataset that exposes this layer at facility resolution.

Research and data questions this source supports.

• 01Analyze actual-versus-expected staffing levels at nursing homes using daily nurse staffing records — the data underlying CMS's staffing star rating.
• 02Build a nursing home staffing crisis study that surfaces which states and chains have the highest rate of understaffed facilities.
• 03Cross-reference PBJ staffing data with CMS Care Compare NH star ratings to identify facilities with high star ratings but low actual staffing.
• 04Support M&A diligence on nursing home chains with historical staffing data as a quality proxy before CMS deficiency surveys complete.
• 05Power a workforce analytics study on healthcare labor supply and demand using PBJ daily staffing records as the ground truth.

Dataset size: Hundreds of millions of daily staffing records annually

Per-field display contract.

Every field below has a `display_allowed` flag in the §94 provenance schema. Write-locked fields are captured to provenance for audit but never rendered on profile pages.

What we can’t infer from this source.

• Suppression for facilities reporting <90 days in a measure period — render `<DataAvailabilityState>` with explicit reason.
• Census denominator is midnight-only; rapid intra-day census shifts not visible.
• Federal 3.48 minimum rescinded December 3, 2025 (effective February 2, 2026); per-facility transparency now the only mechanism for staffing accountability.

Authority, license, refresh cadence.

What the source allows.

U.S. government public-domain works. PDC publishes the dataset at data.cms.gov/provider-data/topics/nursing-homes with explicit redistribution rights.

What a single field looks like in the graph.

A worked example. Every field surfaced from this source carries this shape of provenance line — source · last checked · display rule · confidence (when applicable).

Official API, bulk download, and Fonteum endpoints.

Common questions about CMS PBJ.

What is the CMS Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) staffing dataset?

The Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) is a CMS mandatory electronic submission system for nursing facilities. Long-term care facilities must submit daily staffing data drawn directly from payroll records for every nursing, therapy, and administrative staff category. PBJ data is the source of truth for the CMS Care Compare staffing star rating and for the nurse staffing public reporting requirements under the Staffing Accountability Reform (STAR) Act.

What staffing categories does PBJ cover?

PBJ covers all nursing staff categories: Registered Nurses (RN), Licensed Practical Nurses / Licensed Vocational Nurses (LPN/LVN), Certified Nurse Aides (CNA), Nurse Aide Trainees, Medication Aides, and Physical, Occupational, and Speech therapy staff. Each submission includes daily hours worked by type, not just headcount, enabling per-resident-day staffing rate calculations.

Where can I download CMS PBJ staffing data?

CMS publishes the PBJ daily nurse staffing dataset at data.cms.gov/quality/payroll-based-journal-pbj-daily-nurse-staffing. The dataset is updated quarterly. It is U.S. government public-domain data available as CSV downloads at no cost.

What is the federal minimum staffing rule for nursing homes?

In April 2024, CMS published the long-term care minimum staffing final rule requiring Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes to provide a minimum of 3.48 total nurse staffing hours per resident per day (HPRD), including at least 0.55 HPRD of RN time. The rule also requires 24/7 RN presence. Implementation is phased by state and facility type through 2026–2029. PBJ data is the primary compliance monitoring source.

How does PBJ data differ from the staffing data on the CMS Care Compare nursing home profile?

CMS Care Compare shows quarterly-average staffing rates (RN hours per resident per day and total nurse hours per resident per day) derived from PBJ submissions. The raw PBJ dataset provides the underlying daily submissions, enabling more granular analysis: day-of-week staffing patterns, weekend versus weekday gaps, and quarter-by-quarter trend analysis across facilities.

Where this source already shows up.

Related sources in the graph

• /sources/cms-pos →
• /sources/cms-care-compare →
• /sources/cms-nh-deficiencies →
• /sources/cms-snf-all-owners →

Per-source methodology: /methodology/cms-pbj →

• /sources → The full source library — every dataset Fonteum cites.
• /data-provenance → The provider graph — pipeline diagram, source-family clusters, field-level provenance examples, display rules.
• /methodology → Network-wide sourcing, refresh cadence, and corrections policy.
• /editorial-policy → Independence, sourcing, conflicts, corrections, retractions.